The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Musicians often use sound manipulation effects devices during their performances. Recently, many sound manipulation effects devices have moved from the physical domain, such as an effects pedal, to the software domain, such as a software program that digitally simulates an effects pedal. A common protocol for controlling such software devices is Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI). Software effects have the advantage of being essentially unlimited in number for a performer, with the ability to control countless parameters from the software program.
However, manipulating a computing device such as a laptop, tablet or mobile phone that is running the effects software is not practical for a user or performer, who ultimately still requires a separate physical manifestation of the software device, such as a pedal board device, to manipulate its parameters in real time.
Electronic instrument manufacturers have historically accommodated this need by creating hardware pedal-board devices with a limited number of physical buttons or controls. Given that there are a limitless number of effects and parameter settings available in software programs, pedal board devices have increasingly been made larger and larger, with more physical buttons to give performers quick access to control more effects. However, this is not a scalable solution as practical limits exist as to the number of physical buttons a device maker can, or is willing to make, and the size, weight, and cost of a pedal board device that a user or performer is willing to use.